Entries in Star Trek
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Official White House Photo by Pete Souza(WASHINGTON) -- It had no real bearing on his press conference about the very serious matter of the U.S. deficit and the upcoming sequester, but the President showed himself to be neither committed Trekkie nor Star Wars fanboy at a White House press conference Friday.

After an hour-long meeting between Democrats and Republicans ended without any resolution to the dreaded sequester that is set to kick in Friday, a reporter asked the president why he didn’t lock congressional leaders in a room and make them work until there was a deal.

Here’s how he responded:

I am not a dictator, I’m the president.

So ultimately, if Mitch McConnell or John Boehner say “we need to go to catch a plane,” I can’t have Secret Service block the doorway, right?

(Cross talk.)

No, no, I understand. And — and I — and I — I know that this has been some of the conventional wisdom that’s been floating around Washington that somehow, even though most people agree that I’m being reasonable, that most people agree I’m presenting a fair deal, the fact that they don’t take it means that I should somehow, you know, do a Jedi mind meld with these folks and convince them to do what’s right.

Well, you know, they’re elected. We have a — a constitutional system of government. The speaker of the House and the leader of the Senate and all those folks have responsibilities.

What I can do is I can make the best possible case for why we need to do the right thing. I can speak to the American people about the consequences of the decisions this Congress is making or the lack of decision-making by Congress.

Wait. Jedi mind meld? There are Jedi mind tricks, of course, from Star Wars. And there is Vulcan Mind Meld, from Star Trek. But in equating the two, the president erred. He mixed Star Wars and Star Trek.

The people who spend a lot of time on Twitter in the middle of the day, naturally got immediately diverted from sequestration and decided instead to poke fun at the Sci-Fi/Fantasy conflagration by the commander-in-chief.

Of course, there is an argument that he could be forgiven for the mix-up. The two franchises will now sort of be linked since Star Trek reboot director J.J. Abrams is signed on to direct a Star Wars reboot.

If America can bring Star Wars and Star Trek together like that, why can’t she fix the deficit?

Obama complained that Republicans won’t negotiate with him. House Speaker John Boehner, appearing at his own press conference up on Capitol Hill, said Republicans wouldn’t accept any more addition revenue -- taxes -- as part of any deficit reduction plan. They accepted some earlier this year as part of a deal to extend Bush era tax cuts for most Americans.

Obama rattled off the things he would accept as long as Republicans would accept more revenue.

“Give me an example of what I’m supposed to do,” he said to a reporter, suggesting the White House and Republicans just can’t find an earthly way to agree.

Maybe Obama could use a bit of the Force to achieve a bit of mind meld.

Nichelle Nichols(NEW YORK) -- President Obama met with Nichelle Nichols -- that’s Lt. Uhura from Star Trek -- back in February, but Nichols didn’t tweet a photo of her and the president giving the Vulcan salute until Wednesday.

“A photo came to me in the mail that I’ve kept for myself for over a week, but now it’s time to share it with Trekkers everywhere,” she tweeted.

“Taken 2/29/12 in the Oval Office -- Live Long & Prosper!” she tweeted, linking her post to the photo.

The photo is now Nichols’ Twitter profile photo and, according to her tweets after meeting the president, proudly displayed on her wall as well.

But it seems the Star Trek star was not the only one stoked about her White House visit. Nichols tweeted that the president said he was a “Trekker” and had a crush on her Star Trek character as a child.

“Months ago Pres Obama was quoted as saying that he’d had a crush on me when he was younger. I asked about that & he proudly confirmed it!” Nichols tweeted the day of her White House meeting.

“President Obama also confirmed for me that he was defintely a Trekker! How wonderful is that?” read her next tweet.

In a December interview with ABC’s Barbara Walters, Obama proved his Trekker-ness by dropping a reference to the emotionless Mr. Spock. When Walters asked the president what he thought the “biggest misconception” about him was, Obama responded, “Me being detached, or Spock-like, or very analytical.”